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Detroit Auto Show: Green driving comes to Cobo's basement

Unless you're trying to outrun a Corvette in a Fiesta, driving indoors is not typically recommended, what with the toxic fumes and all. Low-emissions vehicles may change that and the Detroit Auto Show's organizers will illustrate it by converting Cobo Center's Michigan Hall into a green test track. Sponsored by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, the MEDC EcoXperience will offer show-goers the chance to drive a variety of environmentally-friendly new vehicles around a forested 1/8-mile test track.

The list of participating vehicles has yet to be confirmed, but it could include some six to twelve different (almost assuredly all American) vehicles, including the Chevy Equinox hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle. Public visitors will have the chance to put-put around the track at 10 mph with a professional co-pilot in between trees and waterfalls. And just in case the low- or zero-emissions vehicles manage to spew a bit more fumes than the trees can convert, there will be air quality monitoring devices in place.

Of course, none of this would have been possible if all those automakers hadn't withdrawn from the show, allowing the Chinese companies that were previously relegated to the Michigan Hall to move upstairs, thus clearing the way for the forest track to be installed. We'll check it out for you next week when the Autoblog caravan rolls into Detroit.

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Anonymous

The reported said "Impressive. Very impressive. I spent part of Wednesday afternoon tooling around GMâs tech center in a âmuleâ version of the Volt. When I hit the gas, the acceleration was instant. Like all electric cars, the torque and response from the car is immediate. The Volt will deliver the same performance you would get from a car with 250 horse power.

The other thing that stands out about the Volt is how smooth and quiet it is. There is not the whirring sound that I have heard in other electric cars I have driven. It also feels effortless when you are driving it. All around, I can see why executives at GM have growing confidence the Volt will deliver everything thatâs been promised."

Anonymous

6 Years Ago

Intresting, I wasn't sure that the basement was big enough to fit an 1/8 mile track down there, guess it is. But at least with the massive lineup to to get down there, I'll actually be able to move around in that crowd.

Anonymous

Anonymous

6 Years Ago

"Of course, none of this would have been possible if all those automakers hadn't withdrawn from the show, allowing the Chinese companies that were previously relegated to the Michigan Hall to move upstairs..."

I wonder if this is the chance the Chinese automakers have been waiting for...and maybe they'll never look back.